Portage, Highland ahead of guidelines

Gary Community School Corp. is one of the many districts throughout Northwest Indiana following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health department guidelines.

Except, unlike other districts that returned to inperson learning long ago without official CDC guidance for schools, Gary Community School Corp. returned to the classroom Monday for the first time since spring.

The School Town of Highland, which first opened its doors back in late September, has been doing well thus far, Superintendent Brian Smith said.

The amount of spread within the district typically follows the community trend, Smith said, and with the seven-day positivity rate in Lake County sitting at just 5.1%, the School Town of Highland saw three cases last week according to its website, a decline from previous data recorded by the district.

“I think it’s less community spread to be honest, because we really aren’t doing anything different than what we had done previously,” Smith said of the decline. “What we found when kids did test positive or faculty members tested positive, it was almost always from the outside.”

Districts that have re

turned to the classroom have said they will continue to follow recommended CDC measures, such as hand washing, disinfection of facilities, contact tracing and mask wearing.

Melissa Deavers-Lowie, director of communications and community engagement at Portage Township Schools, said the district will continue to employ and follow the CDC recommendations for as long as needed.

Portage Township Schools, which returned to in-person learning Oct. 20 and went virtual from Nov. 16 through Jan. 11 for the holiday season, has also seen a decline in cases throughout the district with only three reported in the last week according to the district’s dashboard.

“We’ve been really sticking with the original CDC guidelines, we continue to have students wearing masks and social distance when possible, encouraging those healthy habits like hand washing and sanitizing, we continue to do our contact tracing as normal,” Deavers-Lowie said. “I think just sticking with those good practices and our staff members being really supportive of it and being really good role models for the students, I think all of that has come together to support everybody’s health and safety.”

The new CDC guidance suggests that while middle and high schools might need to go virtual when things get risky, elementary schools can go hybrid and provide in-person instruction on some days.

As districts continue to determine the best way to provide education to students, many have agreed on one thing: learning is often more effective when done in the classroom.

“There are some students who have had difficulty with online instruction and will benefit from being in a classroom setting,” McNulty said. “Our overall goal is to educate children consistently and effectively whether at home or in the classroom.”

The return to the classroom comes just after CDC officials have said there is strong evidence now that schools can return to an in-person learning model, especially at lower grade levels. The guidance, however, is just guidance — the agency cannot force schools to open their doors, and there was no mandate for U.S. schools to be reopened.

CDC officials said in-person learning has not been identified as a substantial driver of coronavirus spread within communities, and that vaccination of teachers is important, but not a prerequisite for reopening.

“We recognize that our youth have various needs that are better served in person,” Paige McNulty, manager of the Gary school district, said. “From our special needs students to seniors earning credit for hands-on career courses, a classroom environment is necessary to fully accommodate their needs.”

With just 46% of students returning to the classroom, McNulty said the district was anticipating a safe and orderly return with many precautions in place, such as social distancing signage, hand sanitizing stations and assigned seating, and buildings will be fogged every Wednesday as students complete asynchronous learning.